Analogue Chic

Archive for the ‘Patterns & Trends’ Category

As per usual, when I want my camera, I don’t have it; and when I do have my camera, I don’t need it so it just weighs down my bag until I take it out again.  I don’t understand this curse…

Today I finally met lovely Valerie (gosh, I hope I remembered her name correctly…) at the library– I have seen her before around town, and recognized her by her awesome sneakers. Unfortunately, her great juxtaposition of colors and prints must suffer to be captured by my crummy phone camera.

Valerie is rocking a pink tee with blue and white floral capris.  Her black and pink cheetah print sneakers and ikat-style print bag are from Forever 21.

The long awaited return! Just for Nadine : )

: Tillie the Toiler haircut

: upcycled cardigan by me. I stitched a lace shell over this consignment shop cardigan. <3

: white tee

: amazingly well-fitting houndstooth skirt from my former retail job.  Great find.

: fantastic hybrid oxford+mary janes from Baker Shoes, Stamford Town Center.

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for Amber Mortensen.

She has created a fairly foolproof guide to mixing prints at About.com.  Read her guide, apply a little imagination, and you’ll be looking amazing– be fearless!

Amber also writes one of the most awesome fashion blogs I have ever come across, Painfully Hip.  She is one of my Fashion 2.0 heroes.

Thank goodness. I first saw one of his paintings at the Met, and my first reaction was, wow, that background looks like African prints! And it was.

Image (c) Kehinde Wiley, via Newsweek.

PSFK: How did you choose which designs to use?

KW: I went to the streets. I was in Africa with my friends, and we went out into the markets and looked at reams and reams of fabric- later figuring out which photo, which portrait worked best with what- it was really a hands on and sort of intuitive experience. There’s no concise system for it,  it was more of an ineffable process. A visceral decision about what had the right look and feel for what we were doing.

I wish he were more specific about what cities or regions he was in, because textiles are so tied to the local culture – there is really no such thing as an "African" fabric.

I’m not such a fan of his portraits, actually – I’ve never been a big modern art fan.  But I am definitely a huge fan of making art accessible to everyone, especially those who are typically not among the elite of arts patrons.

KW:There is actually a lot of conceptual overlap between the two projects. My work is about engaging the  contemporary  global street-whether it’s Harlem or Columbo, Sri Lanka. And many people say it’s  hip hop , many people say it’s a global cultural urgency which is driven by a sort of African essence- I don’t know what it is- but to engage with popular culture is something that I’m excited about. I mean, in the 21st century artists occupy many different states- and it is my job to do whatever it is I do as  well as possible.  To view the world through my eyes and make my vision resonate with the viewer.

(I thought I had previously done a post on Yinka Shonibare, but I guess not.  Anyway, I love his work – it’s the perfect combination of critique, sarcasm, rococo fashion, traditional textiles, and colonialism – it’s like we have the same brain. Google him.)

Quotes via PSFK.

I love this print story, called Dream Machine by Swash, for the Spring/ Summer 2010 collection.

It strongly reminds me of the pantaloon-ballon from Baron Munchausen…  It makes me very happy!

via CyanaTrendland

The social event of the year for Danbury took place this past Saturday night, the annual Mayor’s Ball.  Politics aside, I was not in a position to shell out $100 (the reduced price, allegedly to allow more people to attend) for a ticket, plus an outfit and hair (yes, the ball is a charity benefit).  But, I’m still more than ready to share with you my evaluation of the best and worse dressed.

You know it’s going to be rough when the entertainment is dressed better than the people who paid to get in… Lovely singers.

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Got a tip* today on an lovely new blog, A Collection a Day, by artist Lisa Congdon, an illustrator and collector.

Images copyright Lisa Congdon.

This is my attempt to document my collections, both the real and the imagined. Some of my collections are so large that I will need to photograph them separately over several days. I will likely not attempt to photograph collections in which the individual pieces are large in size or awkward in shape (i.e. my art collection or vintage enamel dishware collection). The only rule is that I must photograph or draw a whole or part of a collection each day for 365 days and post the result here on this blog.

*Thanks, Cyanatrendland.

Hey y’all,

A lovely fellow Etsian and blogger, MuseSilkPaintings, has featured my upcycled Air Force jacket in her Friday Fashion Finds today!

Take a peek at this and the other really adorable outfits she has put together!

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

~A

There is a formal dress shop on Main Street in Danbury, and while the dresses aren’t my taste, I enjoy the prop styling in their windows.  Earlier this week, I walked by on my way home and the sun was hitting the scroll decals on the windows, and casting a shadow on the white dresses they have out, creating this big, graphic pattern.  I didn’t have my camera with me that day, and then had to wait another day for clear skies, and today I tried some shots.  My timing wasn’t exactly the same, so the scroll patterns aren’t in the same placement as when I first framed the shots, but I think I got a couple of not-too-shabby pictures, and the black & white filter helps a lot.

Men’s dark chambray shirt, originally Target, thrifted at Salvation Army Store;

White waffle-weave henley, originally Gap, from Bring ‘n’ Buy, Ridgefield;

Vintage gold belt, from Upscale Downtown Consignments, Danbury;

Over-dyed denim slacks, from Annie Sez, Danbury;

Red ballet flats, Naturalizer;

Analogue Chic original denim bangle.